‘ICANN received the letter last week, and is fully cooperating with the Attorney General's request for information. ICANN is subject to regulation by the CA-AGO, which is responsible for supervising charitable organizations in California. ICANN is a California public benefit, nonprofit corporation. ICANN and PIR have agreements in place regarding PIR's operation of the .ORG registry and other registries (PIR Registry Agreements).’
The original letter [1] explains it. In short, ICANN is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation. At least in theory, there was a possibility that for ICANN to approve the sale would violate the public benefit obligations set out in its bylaws, and the state Attorney General has the power to investigate that.
ICANN is incorporated in California, has their headquarters there, and does significant business. Any of the three would be sufficient, but the incorporation was called out.
